Official Sherlock escape room to open in London this fall

The game will very much be “afoot” for fans of the TV show Sherlock who visit London from this fall. Why? Because it has been announced that the first escape room to be based on the brand will open in the English capital in October.

In Sherlock: The Game is Now, players will make their way through detailed recreations of Sherlock environments in a 90-minute immersive game experience. Groups of 4-to-6 will solve puzzles, challenges, and mysteries against the clock — and get up close with Sherlock characters in new, specially-recorded video and audio sequences featuring original cast members. The production comprises five identical multi-room experiences at a central London location, to be announced at a later date.

Sherlock: The Game is Now is a partnership between KIN Partners, Sherlock producers Hartswood Films, and escape room specialists Time Run. Sherlock producer Sue Vertue and showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have consulted on and co-scripted the experience.

“Sue, my wife, and the producer of the show, is always looking for something we can do to satisfy the hunger for Sherlock, since the show is mostly not on,” Moffat tells EW, explaining the origin of the experience. “She enjoys, as we all do, these sort of locked-room things, and she thought this would be a good option. And it just fits well into Sherlock. It’s not just slapping the brand on a largely irrelevant spin-off, it actually works well with the show that we’ve established. There is some of the Sherlock cast in it — obviously not turning up on a daily basis, with their costumes, because they’re quite expensive. But, yes, you will see new footage of them, never seen before!”

“It’s like being in the show,” says Gatiss, who, in addition to being a Sherlock co-creator and writer, plays the title character’s brother, Mycroft Holmes. “So, there is an element of familiar settings, and environments, and plots, which will make you feel like you’re in Sherlock. But then, obviously, as the narrative winds its way on, you go to new places, to solve the clues and solve the case. It’s as close as you can get to being in an episode of Sherlock without becoming an actor, working for years of disappointment, and gradually dragging your weary carcass into the show!”

The plan is for the Sherlock: The Game is Now to be rolled out globally following the opening in London.

“It’s a very portable idea,” says Gatiss. “It’s not reliant on cast availability. I mean, once it works as a unit, it would be a great thing to reproduce.”

Tickets for Sherlock: The Game is Now cost 54 pounds sterling and can be purchased at the escape room’s official website.